Receives sentence of 25-35 years in prison

By Wes Wolfe / Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 10:32 PM.

The daughter said to investigators she told Jones she didn’t want to sleep with him or watch porn.

Jones had two daughters die in a house fire 10 years ago, and another daughter, 15 years old, lives with her maternal grandparents in La Grange. He discovered he was HIV positive when he was at Lenoir Memorial Hospital for treatment of depression, for which he is taking the prescription drug Klonopin.

Even in entering his guilty plea, Jones disputed he threatened her and said her mother’s sister’s son introduced her to pornography.

Judge Jones asked the defendant, “Didn’t it ever occur to you that you were stealing the innocence of your daughter,” to which Tracy Jones said, “Yes.”

Asked why he did it, the defendant said, “I don’t know.”

Making remarks at the end of the hearing, the daughter said she can’t trust anybody now. And addressing her father directly, she said, “You’re my dad and I still love you, but it was just wrong.”

For raping his daughter, Tracy Jones received 25-35 years in prison Tuesday.

Jones, 41, pled guilty to one charge of first-degree statutory rape, a Class B1 felony. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped two counts of first-degree sexual offense, along with one count each of incest, taking indecent liberties with a child and performing a lewd and lascivious act on a child.

In handing down the sentence, Lenoir County Superior Court Judge Paul Jones said, “Mr. Jones, it’s not often I say this, but what you did, there’s probably a special place in Hell for you.”

Assistant District Attorney Imelda Pate said Jones stayed with his daughter and her mother off and on — especially while the girl’s mother was dying — between 2011 and March 2012. It was revealed following sentencing that the mother had the human immunodeficiency virus, and Jones tested positive, as well. However, the daughter tested negative during the investigation.

Jones had oral and vaginal sex with his daughter at least four times up to March 2012, when she was 11 years old. The daughter told investigators Jones made her watch porn — she had a DVD player in her bedroom — so that she’d know what to do. She also said her father told her it was better he was having sex with her than, “some boy from school.”

Asked why she didn’t come forward to authorities before her guardian took her to the Kinston Department of Public Safety to make a report, she said Jones threatened to physically harm her and her mother if she said anything.

Initially, Jones told investigators he didn’t do anything at all, but stayed in his daughter’s room until she fell asleep, or watched movies with her. Later he said he did touch her and eventually have sex with her, but only because she asked him to because she was curious about sex, that she enjoyed it, and she was the one who initiated watching the pornographic movies.

The daughter said to investigators she told Jones she didn’t want to sleep with him or watch porn.

Jones had two daughters die in a house fire 10 years ago, and another daughter, 15 years old, lives with her maternal grandparents in La Grange. He discovered he was HIV positive when he was at Lenoir Memorial Hospital for treatment of depression, for which he is taking the prescription drug Klonopin.

Even in entering his guilty plea, Jones disputed he threatened her and said her mother’s sister’s son introduced her to pornography.

Judge Jones asked the defendant, “Didn’t it ever occur to you that you were stealing the innocence of your daughter,” to which Tracy Jones said, “Yes.”

Asked why he did it, the defendant said, “I don’t know.”

Making remarks at the end of the hearing, the daughter said she can’t trust anybody now. And addressing her father directly, she said, “You’re my dad and I still love you, but it was just wrong.”

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.